Anoa'i family
Encyclopedia
The Anoa'i family, originating from American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

, is a family of professional wrestlers
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...

.

Family members

The patriarch and matriarch of the family, Reverend Amituanai Anoa'i and his wife Tovale, had nine children: six sons, Afa
Afa Anoa'i
Arthur "Afa" Anoa'i, Sr. is a Samoan American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring in the 1990s, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Facility.-Early life:Anoa'i was born in Samoa, but...

, Afoa, Tumua, Peteroni, Sipa, and Sika
Sika Anoa'i
Leati "Sika" Anoa'i is a former professional wrestler and a member of the Anoa'i family.-Career:Sika teamed with his brother Afa to form the tag team the Wild Samoans. They teamed in various promotions including WWF and Mid-South. In 1979, they signed with the World Wrestling Federation...

; and three daughters, Matalima, Lia, and Vera, who died April 25, 2008.

Afa and Sika became wrestlers, forming the tag team the Wild Samoans
Wild Samoans
The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa and Sika in Mid-South Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation . The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world.-Gimmick:...

. Afa's three sons are also all wrestlers — Samula
Samula Anoa'i
Samula Anoa'i is a professional wrestler best known as one half of The Headshrinkers/Samoan Swat Team under the name Samu. His father is Afa Anoa'i who trained Samula for his professional wrestling debut....

 (best known as Samu), Afa Jr.
Afa Anoa'i, Jr.
Afa Anoa'i, Jr. is an American professional wrestler of Samoan descent. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, where he competed on its Raw brand under the ring name Manu.-World Xtreme Wrestling:...

 (known as Manu) and Lloyd
Lloyd Anoa'i
Lloyd Anoa'i is a Samoan American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager who has performed under numerous ring names. He is one of the three sons of professional wrestling patriarch Afa Anoa'i, and a member of the Anoa'i family.-Career:...

 (best known as L.A. Smooth). His eldest daughter is Komiti Trotter, 2nd eldest is Bernadette Anoa'i-Shroyer. The next to the youngest is Monica Anoa'i who is the widow of wrestler Gary Albright
Gary Albright
Gary Albright was an American professional wrestler who performed mainly in Stampede Wrestling in Canada and with UWF International and All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan. Albright was a member through marriage of the famous Anoa'i wrestling family, including Afa and Sika, Yokozuna, Rikishi, and The...

. His youngest daughter is Lynn Tovale Anoa'i.

Sika's older son Matt Anoa'i
Matt Anoa'i
Matthew "Matt" Anoa'i is a professional wrestler, best known for his time on the independent circuit under numerous ring names, and his time in World Wrestling Entertainment , where he competed as Rosey....

 wrestled under the name Ro'Z and Rosey, while his younger son Joe
Joe Anoa'i
Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoa'i is a professional wrestler and former Canadian football defensive tackle. He is signed to WWE and wrestles in its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling under the ring name Leakee....

 played football for Georgia Tech and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

. Their oldest sister Elevera gave birth to four sons, who all but one would become wrestlers: Sam Fatu
Sam Fatu
Samuel Larry Anoa'i Fatu is a professional wrestler best known under the name of The Tonga Kid, or Tama.-Professional wrestling career:...

 (known as Tama and Tonga Kid), Solofa Fatu Jr.
Solofa Fatu
Solofa F. Fatu, Jr. is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Rikishi.-The Samoan Swat Team:...

 (as Fatu, Rikishi Phatu and Junior Fatu ) and Eddie Fatu
Eddie Fatu
Edward Smith "Eki" Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Umaga...

 (known as Jamal and Umaga). Eddie died on December 4, 2009. Solofa Jr. has five children. Two of his sons, Jonathan and Joshua, are now wrestlers under WWE contract, wrestling for the WWE's SmackDown brand
WWE Brand Extension
WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment , currently promotes its core business of professional wrestling through two "brands" named after their two major television shows Raw and SmackDown...

 as Jimmy and Jey Uso
The Usos
The Usos are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of twin brothers Jimmy and Jey Uso. The Usos appear in WWE, competing on the SmackDown brand. The pair were previously managed by Tamina...

, respectively.

Afoa is father to Rodney Anoa'i
Rodney Anoa'i
Rodney Agatupu Anoa'i was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation where he wrestled under the ring name Yokozuna. The term yokozuna refers to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan...

 also known as "Yokozuna" who died in October 2000. His daughters are Venus Anoa'i-Toia and Elevera Anoa'i-Sanz. Afoa has another son Joshua Anoa'i.

Tumua Anoai (Peseta), the eldest of all the brothers, has a son named Reno, who is known as "Black Pearl." Reno Anoa'i is the founder of KnoX Pro Entertainment LLC / Academy in Sun Valley Ca.

Afa and Sika's father considered Peter Maivia
Peter Maivia
Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia was a American Samoan professional wrestler better known as "High Chief" Peter Maivia. He was head of the famous Samoan wrestling family...

 his "blood brother
Blood brother
Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...

", a connection that continued to Afa and Sika, who regard Peter as their uncle. Peter and his wife Leah Maivia
Leah Maivia
Ofelia "Lia" Maivia , also known as Leah Maivia, was a Samoan veteran wrestling promoter. Maivia was the wife of Samoan professional wrestler Peter Maivia and the grandmother of actor and former wrestler, Dwayne Johnson, who was formerly known as The Rock...

 had a daughter, Ata Maivia, who married wrestler Rocky Johnson
Rocky Johnson
Rocky Johnson is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. Quite popular in his own right in the 1970s and 1980s, he is also known for being the father of actor and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson...

. The couple became the parents of Dwayne Johnson, who wrestled under the names Rocky Maivia and The Rock before establishing himself as an actor. Peter's youngest son Toa is in training to wrestle and his oldest son Peter Fanene, Jr. is in the real estate business.

In addition, Hollywood stuntman Tanoai Reed
Tanoai Reed
Tanoai Reed is a Hollywood stunt man.Reed was born in Honolulu, Hawaii of Samoan and Norwegian descent. He is the cousin and stand-in double of pro wrestler turned actor, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson....

 (aka Toa on the 2008 version of American Gladiators
American Gladiators (2008 TV series)
American Gladiators is an American competition TV show that aired on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance...

) is the great nephew of Leah Maivia. Boxer David Tua
David Tua
David "Tuamanator" Tua is a New Zealand professional heavyweight boxer, fighting out of South Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.He is a former WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental Heavyweight champion....

 and actor Solo Siaopo are also related to the Anoa'i family.

Samu's son Lance debuted as a professional wrestler in the Spring of 2010 and is nicknamed "Samoan Thunder".

Family tree

(The Rock)]] (1972)}}

Samoan Gangstas

Samoan Gangstas was a tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...

 in the independent promotion
Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions. They are roughly analagous to a minor league for pro wrestling, or community or regional theatre.Specific promotions on the...

 World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling
World Xtreme Wrestling is a Northeastern-based independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and have toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Samoa and Guam....

 (WXW). The tag team consisted of members from the Anoa'i family.

Samoan Gangstas was a tag team made up of cousins Matt E. Smalls and L.A. Smooth
Lloyd Anoa'i
Lloyd Anoa'i is a Samoan American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager who has performed under numerous ring names. He is one of the three sons of professional wrestling patriarch Afa Anoa'i, and a member of the Anoa'i family.-Career:...

 (LA stands for Lloyd Anoa'i). Their tag team was formed in 1997 in WXW, the promotion of one half of the Wild Samoans
Wild Samoans
The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa and Sika in Mid-South Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation . The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world.-Gimmick:...

, Afa Anoa'i
Afa Anoa'i
Arthur "Afa" Anoa'i, Sr. is a Samoan American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring in the 1990s, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Facility.-Early life:Anoa'i was born in Samoa, but...

, who is also L.A. Smooth's father. The duo received success in WXW in the tag team division. On June 24, they won their first WXW Tag Team Championship by beating Love Connection (Sweet Daddy Jay Love and Georgie Love). However, they were temporarily suspended and the title was declared vacant. Matt was repackaged as Matty Smalls. They returned in the summer of 1997 and defeated Siberian Express (The Mad Russian and Russian Eliminator), on September 17 to win their second WXW Tag Team Championship.

Problems began between Smalls and Smooth. The two partners began feuding with each other and could not focus properly on their tag title. On March 27, 1998, Smooth defeated Smalls in a Loser Leaves Town match. As a result of losing this match, Smalls was forced to leave the promotion. He left WXW while Smooth focused on a singles career. After a short while, Smalls returned to WXW and the two partners reunited again as Samoan Gangstas and began teaming in the tag team division. They feuded with several tag teams in WXW and focused to regain the WXW Tag Team Championship. However, due to their family disputes and problems with each other, they did not take part in the tournament for the vacated tag title, and instead feuded with each other. Samoan Gangstas feuded with each other after their splitting until Smalls left WXW and began wrestling as Kimo. He began teaming with Ekmo
Eddie Fatu
Edward Smith "Eki" Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Umaga...

 as The Island Boyz and the duo worked in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989 by Atsushi Onita that specialized in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their first show on October 6, 1989...

 (FMW) before signing with World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 (WWE) and working in its developmental territories.

Championships and accomplishments

  • Eastern Wrestling Federation
    • EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)

  • World Xtreme Wrestling
    World Xtreme Wrestling
    World Xtreme Wrestling is a Northeastern-based independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and have toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Samoa and Guam....

  • WXW Tag Team Championship (2 times)

External links=
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